For many people, including seniors, the arthritic, those who are convalescing, or those with physical disabilities, twisting and reaching for small buttons, such as those on a radio, or switches, such as those under a lamp shade, can be painful, and in some cases, dangerous. Lamps may tip over or hands may contact hot light bulbs. Furthermore, the mere act of manipulating and grasping some switches may be extremely difficult for those with arthritic hands or similar mobility disabilities. Many devices have been provided to resolve the problems of accessibility and ease-of-use of power switches.
People with impaired memory, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, Alzheimer's Disease, senile dementia, or the like, or those who are easily distracted, may leave a room and forget to turn off electric devices. Leaving electric devices on when not needed wastes energy, money and may constitute a safety hazard.
Some people may fall asleep with an electric device on, such as a reading lamp, a radio or a television. At other times, some people, including young children, may wish to be comforted by an electric devices while falling asleep, by having a lamp, television, fan and/or audio unit on, however, when the user falls asleep, the electric device continues to operate, wasting energy, money and possibly creating an unsafe condition. Many timer devices have been provided to resolve the aforementioned problems, however, most timing devices are complex, are installed in inconvenient locations, and may be difficult to operate, especially by those with physical and/or mental impairments.
Some people may wish to limit the time that use of a particular electric device is available, e.g., limiting television-viewing time for young children. Moreover, nighttime readers may need help in limiting the amount of time they read. A reader may become so involved in reading that they lose track of time. This event, while pleasurable at the time, may result in an inadequate amount of sleep. Setting time limits provides feedback for people, such as those with ADHD, autism, memory loss or others wishing to modify their behavior. Conventional timers, which can be programmed by a user provide a set operation time, however, because they must be plugged in right at the wall outlet, they may be inaccessible and inconvenient when a user desire to use the timer spontaneously, or when the user desires to change a timer setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,271 to Stevens et al., describes a Method and apparatus for activating switches in response to different acoustic signals. The method of clapping ones hands turns an electric device on or off. This apparatus provides accessibility and ease-of-use of electric devices, however, one must be awake to operate this device. Thus if the user falls asleep, electric devices remain powered on, thus wasting energy and money. The requirement of needing to be awake to turn a device off is also present in known wireless remote control units.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,471 to Boyles, describes a programmable timer, which plugs into a wall outlet. This device does not require a user to remain awake, however, the timer must be preprogrammed and not easily accessible when a use has a spontaneous need to change the timer. Furthermore, as the device of the '471 patent must be located near a wall outlet, which is usually located at a low level, and is frequently located behind furniture, accessibility and spontaneity are difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,452 to Simmons describes a programmable switching unit, which may be incorporated in a wall switch for installation in a standard switch box. This timer and power switch addresses the accessibility, ease-of-use and timing issues, however, it requires a hard-wired installation, as it must be electrically connected to a wall switch.
There are other known wall switch timers, which require rotation of a setting mechanism, which audibly clicks down the time, which may be an annoyance, especially when one is trying to fall asleep. Other wall switch timers that silent and require a user only to press a switch or button, however, such timers still require installation of the unit into the wall switch box.